Gothic Sector
The Gothic Sector of the Milky Way Galaxy is a sector of the Imperium of Man in the Segmentum Obscurus to the galactic north of Terra that is located on the border with the vast Ultima Segmentum. The Gothic Sector lies adjacent to the great Warp rift known as the Eye of Terror and was the location where Abaddon the Despoiler's 12th Black Crusade, colloquially remembered as the Gothic War, was fought from 139.M41 until 160.M41. The Forces of Chaos were defeated by the Imperium during that conflict, but Abaddon managed to seize several of the Blackstone Fortresses which he would use to eke out a more successful conclusion over 800 standard years later when he launched the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41. The Gothic Sector and the Gothic War was also the setting for Games Workshop's tabletop game of starship combat, Battlefleet Gothic. Gothic War The Gothic Sector's most important attribute was that it was the location of the six known Blackstone Fortresses, the powerful xenos artefacts originally created by the Old Ones to serve as weapons against the C'tan during the War in Heaven over 65 million standard years ago. When Mankind re-discovered the worlds of the Gothic Sector during the Great Crusade, the Imperium found the Blackstone Fortresses and eventually transformed them into Imperial naval bases. During the Gothic War, the capture of these fortresses would become Abaddon's prime objective and he would manage to wrest control over three of the six known to exist. He used their powerful xenos technology to strip one planet of its atmosphere and transform another star into a supernova that destroyed its surrounding planetary system. Unknown to the Imperium, Abaddon managed to escape into the Warp with two of the three Blackstone Fortresses the Forces of Chaos had captured and they would eventually play a pivotal role in the 13th Black Crusade he launched against the Imperium 800 years later. The 12th Black Crusade, better known as the Gothic War, had been preceded by the unleashing of a catastrophic Warp Storm on the Gothic Sector in 142.M41 that soon cut it off from both outside communications and Imperial reinforcements, leaving the defence of the sector to those Imperial ground and naval forces already present. Battlefleet Gothic, the primary Imperial Navy force in the sector, was forced to fight over the following two decades against a series of Chaos warfleets numbering from eight to twenty led by varying Chaos Warmasters including Abaddon the Despoiler of the Black Legion. The Imperial forces also had to defend against Eldar, Ork and human pirates who sought to take advantage of the situation to benefit themselves. The death toll ran into the billions as scores of worlds were ravaged by the onslaught of the Forces of Chaos as Abaddon sought to seize the Blackstone Fortresses. In 151.M41 the Warp Storms blanketing the sector finally began to abate as the grip of the Ruinous Powers was weakened following several Imperial victories. Imperial reinforcements, including detachments from several Space Marine Chapters, were rushed into the Gothic Sector by Segmentum Command. Following an alliance against the Forces of Chaos by the Imperium and elements of the Craftworld Eldar who feared Chaos' acquisition of several of the Talismans of Vaul (Blackstone Fortresses), Abaddon's own warfleet was pursued into the Schindelgeist System where the final great battle of the war ended in a famous victory for the Imperial Navy. By 160.M41 the situation had stabilised and the Gothic Sector was cleansed of the remaining Chaos, Ork and pirate forces. Locations Bhein Morr Sub-sector *'Krool' - Agri-world *'Oechalia' - Civilised World *'Fularis' - Civilised World - Location of Blackstone Fortress I before the start of the Gothic War. The world of Fularis II was used as a demonstration of the power the Blackstone Fortresses possessed when Abaddon used two of the captured fortresses to strip that planet of its atmosphere and biosphere and reduce it to a barren world of stripped rock. *'Balaam' - Agri-world *'Kharlos' - Mining World *'Bhein Morr' - Civilised World *'Elysium' - Civilised World *'Mastado' - Mining World *'Luxor' - Mining World *'Stranivar' - Hive World *'Duran' - Uninhabited System Cyclops Cluster Sub-sector *'CCX-104' - Uninhabited System *'Denerair' - Agri-world *'Halemnet' - Hive World *'Lithore' - Mining World *'Mezoa' - Forge World *'Misere '- Mining World *'Moab' - Civilised World *'N'man' - Uninhabited System *'Numitor' - Agri-world *'Platea' - Mining World *'Rebo' - Civilised World - Rebo was the location of Blackstone IV before the start of the Gothic War. *'Slade' - Penal World *'Thanet' - Mining World *'Verstap' - Agri-world Gethsemane Sub-sector *'Toya-Tama '- Mining World *'Lashattau' - Mining World *'Gath' - Agri-world *'Gethsamaine' - Hive World *'Fier' - Mining World - Fier was the location of Blackstone III before the start of the Gothic War. *'Cherys' - Hive World *'Zpandex' - Forge World *'Erebus' - Agri-world *'AFR-74 '- Uninhabited System *'Drakulu' - Agri-world *'Yama Enda' - Agri-world Port Maw Sub-sector The headquarters of the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Gothic was located at Port Maw, a massive space station in orbit of the Hive World of the same name and the largest Imperial naval base in the Gothic Sector. *'TR/052/GS/PW-L' - Uninhabited System *'Acre '- Agri-world *'Bretz' - Civilised World *'Electris' - Agri-world *'Kueghan' - Agri-world *'Port Maw' - Hive World - Location of the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Gothic naval base *'Marinas' - Mining World *'Lethe' - Civilised World *'Aeolus' - Mining World *'Ortho' - Mining World *'Kiliman IV' - Uninhabited System *'Walpurgis' - Penal World Quinrox Sound Sub-sector *'Phroti' - Uninhabited System *'Naxos' - Mining World *'Melos' - Mining World *'Thera' - Mining World *'Delos' - Mining World *'Corilia' - Hive World *'Eziam' - Agri-world *'Brigia '- Civilised World. Brigia was the location of Blackstone VI before the start of the Gothic War. *'Savaven' - Cardinal World of the Ecclesiarchy - In the opening of the Gothic War, Savaven was the first planet destroyed by the Chaos Planet Killer starship. *'Loac' - Mining World Lysades Sub-sector *'Skagerrak '- Mining World *'Sicyon' - Mining World *'Tarantis' - Mining World - The entire Tarantis System was destroyed during the Gothic War when Abaddon combined the power of three Blackstone Fortresses to convert the system's star into a supernova whose shockwave destroyed all the worlds in the system. *'Saviour' - Civilised World *'Schindelgeist' - Civilised world. Schindelgeist was the location of Blackstone V before the start of the Gothic War and was also the location of the deciding battle of the conflict which saw the defeat of Abaddon's warfleet. *'Boetia' - Agri-world *'Vindalex' - Forge World *'Corlina' - Agri-world *'Bladen' - Hive world *'Arimaspia' - Civilised world *'Coimbra '- Agri-world Orar Sub-sector *'Skargul '- Mining World *'Helwurld' - Penal World *'Bligh' - Agri-world *'201/23/GS/N.35/4' - Uninhabited System *'Orar' - Hive World *'AG106/GS/N' - Agri-world *'Corain' - Mining World *'Gile's World' - Agri-world *'Anvil 206' - Hive World - Anvil 206 was the location of Blackstone II before the start of the Gothic War. *'D'Gruppa' - Mining World *'Lemnos '- Mining World *'Picus' - Agri-world Other Locations *'Graildark Nebula' - The hiding place of Eldar pirates during in the Gothic War and still a place with many worlds that needed liberating from the pirates and the Forces of Chaos following the official end of the conflict. *'Lukitar System' - During the Gothic War, the Lukitar System was home to an Adeptus Mechanicus facility on a moon orbiting a gas giant where experimental upgrades were made to Imperial warships. *'Hammerhead Deeps' Sources *''Battlefleet Gothic (Comic), "Battlefleet Gothic," Art by Colin MacNeil'' *''Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook'' (Blue Book), pp. 92-103, 158-159 *''Codex: Chaos Space Marines'' (4th Edition), pg. 28 *''Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook'' (5th Edition), pp. 116-117 *''Warpstorm'' (Rulebook), "Incident at Stranivar" (Short Story) *''White Dwarf 242 (UK), "Wolf Pack" (Short Story)'' *''Execution Hour'' (Novel) by Gordon Rennie *''Shadow Point'' (Novel) by Gordon Rennie es:Sector Gótico Category:G Category:Galaxy Category:History Category:Imperial History Category:Imperium Category:Sector Category:Segmentum Obscurus Category:Gothic Sector